


This Won't End

by Jeronicaloves



Category: Riverdale - Fandom
Genre: F/F, F/M, First work - Freeform, Jeronica, M/M, barchie, choni, unpopular ships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 13:08:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29064858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jeronicaloves/pseuds/Jeronicaloves
Summary: First came high school, then college, then finally love, but will it last?
Relationships: Archie Andrews/Betty Cooper, Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz, Fangs Fogarty/Kevin Keller, Jughead Jones/Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle/Sweet Pea
Comments: 3
Kudos: 21





	1. JUGHEAD

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bothromeoandjuliet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bothromeoandjuliet/gifts).



> This is my first work so, please be kind. I would love any suggestions and tips.
> 
> This work is dedicated to @bothromeoandjuliet, they are such an inspiration to me tysm.

He woke up to the sound of sirens, it being his work from home day he had forgotten to set an alarm. He got dressed, brushed his teeth, ate the waffles his girlfriend had so graciously prepared. Then walked into the living room with one of his favorite Capote novels, only to find his girlfriend on the phone looking over New York from their 14th-floor apartment. She was wearing a dark purple sweater blouse with a fitted black skirt.

“Yes, I just want to make clear how much I will be investing in the Pepper plant,” Veronica explained. “Great! that seems like a fair amount, for now, I look forward to working with you Pepper.”

He wrapped his arms around her and he rested his chin on the top of her head. “Well, I'm assuming that went well.” He hummed as she tilted her head back to rest on his shoulder.

”Yes, yes it did. I still have to ask her about the wedding though.” she huffed as she turned around and looked up into his eyes.

“And let me guess you haven't told Betty and Archie yet?” 

“I would have told you if I did, and anyway we should tell them together. But how the hell are we supposed to tell them Jug, I mean they don't even know we are dating.” she cried, walking to the couch and sitting down.

“They know we are friends and they’re dating so they have no right to be mad,” He reasoned, looking down on her from where he stood on the edge of the navy blue couch. “It's gonna be fine Ronnie I promise.”

“ I hope your right,” she murmured, getting up and kissing him softly on the lips. He wrapped his arms around her and happiness filled him, he was overjoyed that he had gotten to know Veronica and not spent his life seeing her as a spoiled rich girl that just did whatever her father wanted. After they had figured out about Archie and Betty's Kiss, they had become a lot closer, they split apart in college though, keeping in touch as much as possible. Jughead had published his novel, Veronica being the first to read it, and Veronica had started a fashion magazine that was beginning to rival Vogue. They had met after college and had both confessed that they had developed feelings over the past few months so they had collectively decided to try dating. It went better than they had thought it would and Jughead had proposed a month ago. They were both very happy, but they still hadn't told Betty and Archie out of fear of losing both of their longtime friends. 

They were the only ones who were oblivious of their relationship, They needed to tell Betty and Archie who were dating now, and pray that they didn't get mad.

“They are coming to New York today, to our apartment, we can't avoid telling them forever,” He told her, pulling her up and hugging her.

She widened her eyes, “Oh my god, I completely forgot. Clear all your stuff out, they can’t see that you are living here until we tell them.” she panicked, rushing around the bedroom and stuffing all of his stuff into the desk drawers.

“Calm down, we can just tell them that we are living together, they won’t think much of it, rent is expensive in New York.”He comforted her, grabbing her and lifting her chin to look into his eyes. “ We will tell them, they won’t be mad, I swear to you on that.”

“I‘ll hold you to that Forsythe.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Veronica stayed in the kitchen all morning frantically preparing lunch for her old high school friends and soon-to-be husband.

“Ron, are you sure you don’t need any help?”He asked for the 3rd time.

“No Jug I’m fine, just clean the living room, your books are everywhere.” She sighed as she took the muffins out of the oven.

“Ok, but call me if you need anything.” He replied as he turned around and walked back into the living room. Their apartment was smaller than you would expect, it had a master bedroom, a guest room that was a little bit smaller, two bathrooms, a living room that led to a balcony, and a kitchen. They both loved it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About an hour later he heard a knock on the door, He was sitting on the couch typing his soon to be 3rd novel and Veronica was setting the coffee table with the things they would be having for lunch.

“Come in!” Veronica yelled, giving him a nervous glance. The door opened to show the two smiling faces of their high school best friends.

“Ronnie, Jug!” Betty squealed, pulling them into a hug. “ I missed you so much.” she was wearing her classic pink sweater though this time it was much looser, with blue jeans. After high school, she had begun to wear her hair down much more, and like today it was shoulder length and wavy. 

“Yeah, we missed you too Betts.” Jug replied, pulling away and hugging Archie. Archies style hadn’t changed much since high school still jeans and a t-shirt. 

“Ok, you two get settled foods on the coffee table,” Veronica said, clasping her hands together and looking at her friends and fiance and smiling. They all sat down around the adorned table, Betty and Archie on the couch and Jughead and Veronica in the two armchairs facing them.

“So, Betts how have things been with the register? Jughead asked, picking up a clump of purple grapes from the table.

“Well, It has been going great, and Arch has been a big help.” She responded looking into The ginger’s eyes lovingly and putting a hand on his knee. “ Oh and we have been meaning to tell you guys something.” she continued with obvious discomfort.

“Yeah, we have to tell you something too,” Veronica added glancing nervously at Jughead. "But you guys go first.” She quickly added.

“Me and Arch, um were pregnant.” She said holding her breath and glancing down at her hands, his stomach dropped.

“OMG B, Arch that's amazing,” Veronica squealed, jumping up and hugging her two friends. “I am so happy for you two.” She looked back at him, he was just sitting there staring at his glass of wine.” Me and Jug both are.” she added, giving him a confused glance.

“Oh um yeah, we’re very happy for the two of you.” Jughead nodded, finally looking up at the other people sitting at the table with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. He could tell that Veronica wasn’t happy with his response, Why did he feel disappointed? Was he still in love with Betty? He shook the thought out of his head, he loved Veronica, that was something he couldn't deny, then why was he disappointed at the fact that they were gonna have a child? 

“Oh I forgot we have some cookies that Katy made, Jug come to help me?” she suggested standing up and gesturing her head toward the kitchen, giving him the look that said she wanted to talk.

“Yeah sure, Ronnie.” He responded standing up and following her into their smallish kitchen.

“What is the deal Jug, why the sudden change of mood once your ex-girlfriend announces that she is pregnant, are you still not over her?” Veronica questions quietly with a mix of jealousy and anger, that he wishes he hadn't put in her.

“No Veronica you are more than enough, you have to understand even if I don’t love Betty in that way anymore she was my first everything, it takes a second to process the fact that Archie and she are having a baby and I am marrying you. I mean who would've thought that it would turn out this way” he explained. Not all of that was a lie but he had to comfort her until he himself knew why.

“Yeah sorry Jug I was just-”

“You guys are getting married?” They heard from the entrance to the kitchen. They turned to see an awestruck Betty.

“B-”

“No, when did you guys even start dating, I mean last time I saw the two of you together you were barely friends. I can understand if you guys became friends after high school but engaged? When the heaven did you guys even start dating? And why the hell did you not tell me and Archie, we are your best friends are we not? Did you think we would be mad or something? We have no reason to be, I mean we're married.” She seethed attracting Archie who, after listening, had figured why his wife was blowing up. 

“Wait, you guys are engaged?” He asked, looking more happy than mad.

“Yes, we are, and we were about to tell you guys, but I had to talk to Jug first.” Veronica attempted to reason with the couple.

“Betty, could you please not make a scene right now, we understand that you're mad at us for not telling the two of you but we don't need to fight right now .''He countered and raised his voice.

“I am not mad at the fact that you guys are engaged, but the fact you Veronica Lodge have to take everything from me, Archie, Jug, and most hurt full of all that internship at Vogue, you didn't even want to be a journalist! If you really wanted my sloppy seconds that much.” Betty glared at Veronica burning holes in her forehead. Jughead rolled his eyes, this was just another reminder of how manipulative Betty could be.

“Oh my god B what is with you and picking fights?! And you're still mad about that?! I earned it for god sake, maybe you should take the time to realize that for once I was better than you. I am always having to let you be in the damn spotlight, I wanted to do something for me for a change.” Veronica explained angrily to Betty. 

“You honestly expect me to believe you did not bribe-”

Now he was mad, “Cut the crap Betty she earned it, you have been manipulating everyone around you for years, remember when you told me that the “darkness” inside of you made you kiss Archie back and that you tried to reject him but the “darkness” was too strong. It was fake, wasn’t it? All of it was so damn fake. How many other lies did you tell, please now is the time.” He spat gesturing at her with his hands.

“You were trying to reject me? That was not my experience, the moment I kissed you at the variety show practice you were all in.” Archie, who at this point was mad like his two oldest friends, yelled at Betty who looked overwhelmed. 

“Wait, Arch, you told me that Betty kissed you, literally the reason that I forgave you so soon,” Veronica said on the verge of tears. “You guys should just leave,” pointing to the door. “ the four of us obviously can't be in the same room together without tearing up old wounds.” her voice shaking slightly, He put his hands on her shoulders.

“C’mon Arch,” Betty spat grabbing his arm and their stuff, “C’mon Arch we obviously aren’t wanted here,” she stormed off pulling him with her and slamming the door. 

Veronica turned around, and he could see tears streaking down her face. “Why can’t we just have a normal hangout with them without self-destructing.” she put her face in her hands.

“I understand, In high school, we all got along really well, well except for you and me,” he winked, flashing her a grin as she rolled her eyes. 

“Maybe we grew out of each other, but I don't want us to have I mean I love B and Archie so much. We probably just have some kinks in our relationship to work out.”

“Maybe.” He wrapped her in a hug,” Wanna watch a movie?”


	2. BETTY

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for making it to the next chapter, In the last chapter I know I kinda made Betty seem like a Bitch but that's not my purpose. If you like this even a little bit, please say so, I think I need a little confidence boost. Oh and sorry for the chapters being fairly short, it's hard for me to find a lot of time to write.

“What the hell Betty, Is that really what you told Jug?” Archie angrily asked her  
as they walked through the furnished hall toward the elevator. 

“I didn't want him to hate me! I may not love him like that anymore but he was about to be my stepbrother, and he's my friend too. You can understand that right?” she explained looking into his eyes and hoping he would understand her.

“Yeah Betty I can, but could you have at least told me? Now I know why he forgave you so much quicker than me,” he chuckled touching his fingers lightly to his head.” I thought he would never talk to me again.” 

“Yeah sorry about that, I wasn't thinking about how that would affect your friendship.” she apologized as she hugged him glad that he understood. “I love you so much.” 

“I love you too.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After high school, they had become closer, Betty visiting every month for the first year. Then after Archie went to the naval academy and betty graduated from Yale they got married (they had dated throughout college).

After storming out of the soon-to-be Jones apartment they decided why not go and explore the vast city of New York. They were walking through one of the many parks when they saw a glitzy ice cream truck with a line of teenage sweethearts and ecstatic children.

“Wanna see if they have milkshakes?” Archie asked as they stopped and looked at the colorful vehicle.

“Let's get something else, milkshakes have too much nostalgia for me, I wanna forget Riverdale for a few hours.” She reasoned dragging him to a chain of restaurants close to the park.

“What do you wanna eat?”

Betty scanned the row of buildings trying to decide what kinda food she wanted to eat. “Sushi,” she said, finally deciding and pulling him toward the restaurant. 

“Sushi? Is that safe to eat while you have a baby in there?” Archie asked, raising his eyebrows and looking at her questioningly.

“Yeah, as long as it has been frozen beforehand it should be fine. And besides, I've never had it, c’mon Arch let’s try something new.” she pulled him into the restaurant and requested a table for two. Inside it had a beautiful little courtyard with an open skylight, three tables surrounded the Japanese style fountain

They sat down and looked at the vast menu.”Should we get tuna temaki or a spider roll?” 

“Both, and I wanna get a California roll too.” She responded obviously very excited for the upcoming meal. After ordering they began talking about the fight with their old friends. “I feel so bad for blowing up at Veronica like that, I was just so frustrated. And they’re engaged, I mean the last time we saw them together in person was, what like 2 years ago? They had just become friends at that point, now they’re engaged. I was just so surprised, and I still am.” Betty put her face in her hands looking down at the table. She truly was surprised, all they had done was argue in high school.

“I’m not,” Archie said, smirking at her as he took a sip of the saki that the waiter just brought.“this is good.” Wtf she thought What had he seen that she hadn’t.

“What do you mean?!?! How are you not surprised? They only stopped hating each other after high school.” Betty emphasized rather loudly, giving him a questioning glance.

“Wait, you're telling me that you didn't notice any of the looks that he gave her, the eye flirting, or the sexual tension in the room whenever they argued? I didn't comment on it because I knew that neither of them would act on it, or admit it, I mean I’m more surprised at how long it took them to realize. I honestly thought you had noticed it too.” Archie confessed to a completely shocked Betty.

“I am so blind, how did I not realize this? I mean now that I think about it he was kinda always staring at V, but I was too busy looking at you. I guess everything turned out the way it was supposed to.” she sighed laughing a little.

“That it did my love, that it did”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Betty called Veronica three times the next morning with no response. She must be at work Betty thought as she looked for Jugs contact. When she found it she called him, he picked up on the second ring.

“Hey Betts,” he said, yawning, obviously still waking up. 

“Hey, I just wanted to apologize for blowing up at Veronica like that,” she explained,” I guess I was just surprised.”

“Yeah, I was too, honestly it just happened so fast,” he replied with a distant look in his eyes. “I feel like you should be telling this to her though not me.” 

“Babe time for breakfast” she heard as Veronica waltzed into the room only wearing a plaid button-up that was clearly Jugheads. Her face falling as soon as she saw who her fiancé was talking to “ Betty…., hi.”

“ Hey… V. I just want to apologize for my outburst last night. Why were you ignoring my calls though? I would love to have met for coffee and done this in person.” 

“You called wow I had no idea,” she smiled and walked in putting her hand on Jughead’s shoulder. Betty could tell it was fake though, Why was V so mad at her? She had apologized. 

“Well, could we meet for lunch? I saw this really cool Indian restaurant, it has great reviews.” She said, trying to convince Veronica to meet up and talk.

“We actually have brunch to get to in a few hours. “ Jug said jumping in. A wave of confusion washed over Veronica's face but it quickly disappeared.

“Oh, well maybe dinner then?”

“Dinner party.”

“tomorrow?”

“That's the only day that both of us have off so we are going to visit our friends in Woodstock.”

“Okaaaaay. Well, that's too bad, Me and Arch are leaving on Tuesday.”

“I'm sorry, that's so disappointing.” Veronica pouted.

“Yeah…., Well, I should go, Archie, is probably up by now.”

“Bye” V waved as she hit the hang-up button.

“Well, that was weird.” she then waited for Archie to get out of the shower, trying to distract herself from the awful thought that maybe the B and V team was no more. She got why Veronica was hesitant to talk it out, Betty had rubbed salt into old wounds. She felt horrible she knew how Veronica felt about always, somehow, having to shrink so Betty could be in the spotlight, That how it was throughout most of high school and a little bit after. She didn't know what to do, she was so scared, she was pregnant, losing Veronica and potentially Jughead. The only person that grounded her was Archie, and she was so glad she decided to try dating him, I mean they were married now. And although they were still in Riverdale with the white picket fence, And a stereotypical "Marry your high school sweetheart life", she was truly happy. After Archie had come back from the Naval Academy he went into the military for 2 years, that was hard on Betty at first but it gave her time to focus on her, get the register back up and running, finally, go to a therapist, cut out the people and things that were weighing on her, and discover that she had an affinity for writing just as much as Jug. I guess it was always his thing when they were dating so she had never really tried it.

"Betty?, Earth to Betty?"She hears suddenly making her jump

"Oh um hey Arch," she whispered wiping the tears that she had just realized were there off other cheeks.

"Babe, you ok?" he inquired taking her cheeks into his hands and lifting her chin to look into his eyes. she leaped forward into his arms and put her face into his shoulder, and sobbed. "Woah, hey" he wrapped his arms around her.

"I love you so much"


	3. VERONICA

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so I will be taking a bit of a break from this so I have enough time to finish my one-shots for Jeronica week. I'm really excited as this is my first time participating. If you have any suggestions for this story or just feel like commenting it would be greatly appreciated.

She was done with Betty’s shit, at this point it felt like most of their friendship circled around boys. I mean, of course, she loved B, but she couldn’t tell if it was out of habit or real. She constantly felt overshadowed by her. The only reason that she even started dating Archie was because Betty and Jughead had begun dating and the only way to stay in their tight little circle was to be Archie's girlfriend. The truth is she had only kissed Archibald in that closet because she wanted to make new friends, rejecting Archie's kiss might make it awkward between them, and that’s the last thing that she wanted. Of course, she had come to love Archie, but she always knew it would never have lasted.

“God why does B have to be so pushy” she complained putting her head in her hands.

“Woah, she was not being pushy Ron she simply wanted to try to fix things with you after last night. What’s so wrong with that?” Jug argued, confused with his girlfriend’s logic.

“Nothing, that’s the problem, there is always something with her, she always wants something.” 

“ Yeah, she wants you to forgive her. Why can’t you do that? I’m not gonna say that in high school Betty wasn’t incredibly manipulative but we’re all adults now. She has grown out of it, trust me on this one.”

“I want to, I do it’s just I-,I- I don’t know at this point. I want to be her friend. I just don’t want to get hurt again.” She was pacing at this point.

“Yeah, I understand.” He stood up and motioned for her to come and hug him, “It will get better ok.” He comforted wrapping his arms around her small frame.

“I think I need to go lay down.”

She pulled away from the hug and walked into their room, laying down on the huge bed and closing her eyes. Betty cooper was wonderful, she was smart, funny, they had clicked almost instantly when they met. But she couldn’t help but wonder that by chance if she hadn’t walked into pops that day, or if B hadn’t been the one to give her a tour of Riverdale high, would they still be best friends? Would the iconic B and V, as Jughead puts it even exist? Would she have dated Archie? Would she even know who Jughead was? No, she would know Jughead, he was undoubtedly her soul mate. Still, the thought haunted her, she needed to call Cheryl.

Brrring, Briiinnnng Briinn-

“Roniekins, to what do I owe this pleasure.” 

“Hey Cher,” She responded mopey to her red-headed friend.

“What’s got you down on this stunning day.”

“B and Arch came over yesterday and that stirred up some trouble. Now I think Jug is mad at me? Oh my dear god Cheryl I feel horrible, If I had just told them beforehand and not try to hide the fact that Jug and I are freaking engaged then none of this would have ever happened. And shit Cheryl we. are. Engaged. The person that for the entirety of high school I had a mutual hatred for is now my fiance. What the f**ck. “She ranted.

“Ok first of all breathe and second of all, we could all see that there was more than just hatred going on between you and Jughead throughout our traumatic highschool years. I don't know how you had so much tension with my hobo of a step-cousin but even I who was entirely focused on my future wife could see it. “

“Ok, I will admit to you that I may have had the smallest of crushes on Jug when I first came to Riverdale, but that quickly passed when I learned how much of an ass he could be. Anyway, he started dating Betty like the week I got there so I had no chance.”

“Yes, what a shame. But Ronniekins I am not the person you should be talking to, you should talk it out with Betty, being stuck in the “are we still friends or not limbo” is never good, trust me I know from experience”

“Yeah I guess I should reach out and maybe I need to apologize too.” she sighed putting her head into her hands.

“On another matter though, did you get the invite yet? “

“ Since I have zero idea what you are talking about, no I don't believe so”

“Oh well, then I will just tell you. Me and TT are going to have a class of 20** anniversary at the new and improved thistle house. Since we have a newly built ballroom I was thinking we could have something a little more ball-like. So we have decided to have a medieval-style masquerade, all of our senior class will be invited minus a few bothersome individuals. You and hobo are invited, of course, your color scheme that mwha has requested will be included with the invite, along with your personas.”

“Personas?”

“Well, my beloved had a wonderful idea to have everyone have some sort of character, all set in medieval times of course, that they portray during the ball. Everyone’s stories are tangled together in some way, we thought to spice it up a bit.”

“That’s actually really cool Cher, who are you and Toni in this story?”

“We are Empresses, of course, we rule over everyone.”

“Heh, of course, you are.”

“Well, I got to go and finish signing the papers for the memorial at Riverdale High, tootles”. Cheryl chirped giving her a little wave goodbye.

“Bye” she hit the hangup button and dropped her phone, she better talk to betty before the ball or it was going to be hella awkward. But right now she just wanted to go talk to Jug. So she got up and walked into their furnished living room overlooking the New York skyline. Their sofa was cotton, and navy blue with matching armchairs pointed diagonally on the sides, the tv was across the couch mounted above the stone fireplace. Her fiance however was not in the living room where Veronica guessed he would be.

“Jug?” she yelled only slightly worried.

“We’re in the kitchen!” she heard her fiance yell.

“We?” she walked quickly into said room, only to see her brooding boyfriend and crime boss father sitting at two different sides of the table glaring at each other with the intent to kill. “Papi?”

“Hello Mija” Hiram said eirily calm.

“What are you doing here?!?” she practically screeched. Things hadn’t ended well between her and her father after she had left for college. He would only be here if something horrible, or wonderful had happened. She knew from the look on his face that it was the first.

“We need to talk Mija.”

“Spill, what happened?” She stepped slightly closer to the furnished counter

“Not until Jones leaves the room, this is family business. And I thought I told you to break up with this south side scum, yet he tells me that the two of you are engaged.” He spoke to her like Jughead wasn’t in the room, and it pissed her off. She told her self to stay calm, the sooner this was over the sooner her father would leave

“Jug can and will stay, after all, he is family, right?” She snarked walking over to her raven-haired fiance and standing next to him with a hand on his shoulder.

Hiram just sighed, “Your mother is sick with stage four Breast Cancer” He stood up, “She is expected to live for about 6 more months, they caught it extremely late so.... it is no longer curable.”

Her stomach dropped.

How could he say that so calmly? Did he have zero remorse? Did he not care that his wife was dying? 

She couldn’t make out the words of the two men in the room with her, just mumbles of her worried husband to be. She had tunnel vision as she walked into her bed and curled up under the blankets. The tears didn’t come until after she heard Jughead Kick Hiram out, she felt a warm body lay down beside her and hold her in comfort.

Her mother was her lifeline, what was she gonna do?


End file.
